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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jul 25, 2014 20:21:53 GMT
Hello everyone, I have a few questions about making a cage before I start  . 1. What is the best building material (as in wood) to use as the structure. 2. Is it better to have glass doors or mesh doors? Which do you prefer? 3. Do they every chew on the wood from the inside? If so is there a way to stop them? And 4. Can I put some sort of flooring material (ceramic tile/vinyl) under the bedding to protect the wood from their poos and pees and easy clean up? |
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Post by smithomatic on Jul 26, 2014 2:05:11 GMT
I have a large selection of cage building topics on my blog here (http://deguchronicles.weebly.com/degu-chronicles-blog) Click the category links on the right hand side to narrow your search. Might be useful Josh |
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jul 26, 2014 9:12:35 GMT
Ok thanks |
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Post by saddlers on Jul 26, 2014 12:18:01 GMT
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jul 27, 2014 21:02:27 GMT
Ok thanks again! I took a look at both links and they really helped! Although I cant exactly find a anwser to my second question. Maybe someone can anwser that for me? |
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Post by Maravilla on Jul 28, 2014 6:41:07 GMT
Some prefer glass doors, others mesh doors. There is no "better or worse". Glass doors normally are more expensive so that is no option for some people. I prefer mesh doors as I like to interact with my degus without opening the door. With mesh doors, you do not have to provide further ventilation whereas with glass doors you have to provide this for every single level. With mesh doors, all the stuff inside the cage can be thrown out (you can reduce this by putting some protection), something that cannot happen with glass doors. In that cage, the stuff will fall out when you open the doors  . I hope this helps you to decide. |
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Post by smithomatic on Jul 28, 2014 15:38:32 GMT
What maravilla said :-)
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jul 28, 2014 17:28:27 GMT
Yes that did help and I think I will be choosing the mesh doors. |
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Post by saddlers on Jul 28, 2014 19:41:56 GMT
I tried glass doors before, and they were pretty good, but they do get grubby quickly and restrict airflow, whereas the mesh allows much more air movement.
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Post by GoosofCamelot on Jul 29, 2014 20:47:02 GMT
Hi For my degu cages I used kiln dried pine and plywood. The kiln dried pine was used for the frame and the plywood was for the levels, base and back of the cage. They are relatively cheap. They do chew the inside of the cage sometimes (kiln dried pine) but only like the sides of the doors sometimes. If they have enough wooden chews and things to keep them entertained then they most likely won't eat the cage - unless they're bored!!! My cages have mesh, I've never had glass so I don't really know about what I prefer  Probably mesh though because like saddlers said they get more airflow with mesh. If anything I would use vinyl tiles as the ceramic tiles may be too cold for them (in winter time). You can get cheap vinyl tiles from 99p stores (UK) that are ok for putting on the base. Although I just use wood shavings as the wood doesn't tend soak up that much urine. When I clean out the cages I use a bit of washing up liquid diluted with water and just scrub the areas where the parts of urine are and then wipe it away with a cloth. Hope it helps |
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Post by littlepaws1999 on Jul 30, 2014 15:31:36 GMT
Yes thank you for all that info |
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Probably mesh though because like saddlers said they get more airflow with mesh.